On the June 10 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, co-hosts Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Willie Geist criticized Fox News anchor E.D. Hill for teasing a segment on Barack and Michelle Obama's on-stage "fist bump" by saying, "A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? The gesture everyone seems to interpret differently." Geist said of the fist bump: "It's a husband and wife greeting each other. The press was completely bewildered by this. Most of us who were born after the Civil War thought nothing of it because we see it every day. But the press didn't know what to make of this 'primitive greeting' that these two people gave each other. Case in point: On Friday afternoon, Fox News said this during a tease for one of its shows." Geist then aired Hill's comment, after which Scarborough asked: "Did I just hear them call that a terrorist -- what?" Later in the segment, Brzezinski called Hill's teaser "a problem" and "idiotic."

Later, Geist aired a segment of a 2004 interview on HBO's Da Ali G Show with MSNBC analyst Pat Buchanan, during which Buchanan and Ali G (a character played by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen) "fist bumped" twice. Geist asked Buchanan: "So, Pat, let's settle this. Is the fist pound a terrorist jab? Is it a gesture?" Buchanan responded: "No. It's a gesture of solidarity."

Geist aired Hill's comment again during a later segment of the broadcast, during which Scarborough stated: "A memo to Fox -- this is not a Hamas handshake." Geist added: "Talk about self-parody. 'Terrorist fist jab? We'll tell you after the break.' "

From the June 10 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

GEIST: It's time for some News You Can't Use.

BRZEZINSKI: "We'll do it live."

GEIST: We've seated Pat Buchanan for good reason; you'll see why in just a moment. Fist-Bump-Gate is what this is becoming. On Tuesday night, Barack Obama --

SCARBOROUGH: Fox News tells me that this is about terrorism.

GEIST: Well, just wait a second now. Barack Obama and Michelle Obama celebrating his big wins on Tuesday night, essentially cinching the nomination, did this right here. OK?

BRZEZINSKI: That's cute.

GEIST: That's a fist bump.

BRZEZINSKI: Oh, they're cute.

GEIST: It's a husband and wife greeting each other.

SCARBOROUGH: That's sweet.

GEIST: The press was completely bewildered by this. Most of us who were born after the Civil War thought nothing of it because we see it every day. But the press didn't know what to make of this "primitive greeting" that these two people gave each other. Case in point: On Friday afternoon, Fox News said this during a tease for one of its shows.

GEIST: They've had a body lang -- now, this is Barack yesterday in North Carolina. Ready? There you go. Look at that.

BRZEZINSKI: All right.

GEIST: OK, that's Governor Mike Easley.

SCARBOROUGH: So -- so what --

BRZEZINSKI: Is everyone OK?

SCARBOROUGH: Hey, hold on a second, call out the Raleigh -- call out the National Guard, get 'em to Raleigh fast.

BRZEZINSKI: This is a problem. That was idiotic.

GEIST: I think most of us watching literally thought nothing of it until we saw the total -- and we should say it wasn't just Fox, it was some people maybe in this building too who made statements about, "What does it mean? What is this odd, historic greeting between these two people where they strike knuckles?" We see it every day. So --

SCARBOROUGH: So they seriously -- they teased that on Fox as a possible sign of terrorists --

GEIST: Terrorist gesture.

SCARBOROUGH: "We have won. America, you will burn."

GEIST: And it came from a comment on some blog, and they used it on the air. "Is it a terrorist fist jab? We'll discuss, after the break."

BRZEZINSKI: Oh no.

GEIST: Now, let me show you how you do a fist -- you want to know how you do a fist pump?

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.

BRZEZINSKI: Show us, Willie.

GEIST: And you want to know who knows what it means to do a fist pound?

BRZEZINSKI: Who knows?

GEIST: Patrick J. Buchanan with Ali G. Let's watch.

SCARBOROUGH: My main man, Patrick J. Buchanan.

BRZEZINSKI: What? Ali G?

[begin video clip]

ALI G: Yo. Yo, fo' real. I was feeling that man, yo. Yo, is you mashed or something? You is like, so giggly.

BUCHANAN: Well, I'm a --

ALI G: You had a little puff before?

BUCHANAN: Well, yeah. A little puff before, sure.

ALI G: Respek, yo. You needs a bit of -- [edit] You better listen to the words of my man Buchanan, 'cause he know nump tings about America and the election. Listen up, word up, keep it real, west side. Big up yourself.

[end video clip]

GEIST: Bang. Pat.

BRZEZINSKI: Pat.

GEIST: Bang. OK?

SCARBOROUGH: A terrorist jab?

BRZEZINSKI: Wow.

GEIST: Not a terrorist jab, right?

BUCHANAN: There was Ali G, in my den for an hour and a half. I went into the kitchen after it was over and I said, "Shelly, something was wrong about that interview." For an hour and a half this guy --

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.

BUCHANAN: He told me he was a rap singer from Britain, and you've got to explain things very simply to him.

SCARBOROUGH: And what was so great was -- by the way, your friend Andy Rooney put up with it seriously for ten seconds.

BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.

SCARBOROUGH: He said, "I don't know who you are, but get the hell out of my office." So Pat sat there, and he was so patient. Of all the people that have been sort of --

BUCHANAN: Had.

SCARBOROUGH: - had by him, Pat was so patient, and he somehow, WMD's became BLT's.

BUCHANAN: "Did yous find the BLT's in Iraq," you know?

SCARBOROUGH: And you know --

BUCHANAN: No WMDs, no BLTs, no mustard.

SCARBOROUGH: And he started talking about -- Pat started talking about mustard gas, and that became mustard, and then Pat -- he just played with him.

GEIST: So, Pat, let's settle this. Is the fist pound a terrorist jab?

BRZEZINSKI: Please let us know.

GEIST: Is it a gesture?

BUCHANAN: No. It's a gesture of solidarity.

GEIST: Thank you, Pat.

SCARBOROUGH: There you go.

GEIST: Case closed. Pat Buchanan settles it.

BUCHANAN: We're in it, we're together, we're with it.

[...]

GEIST: It's time for some news you can't use and, really, time for a national conversation.

BRZEZINSKI: Yes, please.

GEIST: A conversation I didn't think we needed to have, but apparently we do. This, ladies and gentlemen, is called a fist pound, or if you really want to go into the accelerated class --

ABOUT OUR RESEARCH

Our research section features in-depth media analysis, original reports illustrating skewed or inadequate coverage of important issues, thorough debunking of conservative falsehoods that find their way into coverage and other special projects from Media Matters' research department.